Chester author Clare Dudman is on a mission.

She wants to find people interested in turning the history of Chester into stories, poems and plays.

Clare, who lives in Upton with her husband, said: “It’s an idea I’d had for a bit. Ever since I’d discovered Cheshire Archives. Then along came the BBC2 series The House Through Time by David Olusoga, which I loved.

“He looked at a house in Liverpool, and found all sorts of interesting stories about the people that lived there. I thought we could do the same for houses in Chester but in Chester we can go even further back, sometimes to the 16th and 17th century - sometimes even further back than that.”

But Clare doesn’t want to stop there.

“I thought that having discovered this history, we could then use it to develop stories of our own - maybe based on fact, maybe just used as an inspiration.

“I’d like to produce a book. A combination of fact, fiction and pictures made by the people of Chester about the city of Chester.”

Clare has some experience in the field: as well as teaching creative writing for the WEA and local universities, she’s had four novels published, as well as short stories and a non-fiction book on Chester, called Real Chester.

Clare added: “I walked every street of the city for that book and spent days in the archives - it was great! I went all over Chester - Handbridge, Upton, Blacon, Hoole, Boughton, Garden Lane, Lache, Saltney, Sealand, but in the end had too much.

“The book was part of a series, so it could only be a certain length, so I decided to restrict it to within the city walls - and save the rest for later. Some of that is even more interesting than the stories inside the city itself.

“For instance, did you know that in Saltney they had a maggotorium? This was a room with a large vat of maggots, and people with TB used to go in there for a cure - and there’s been recent scientific evidence that it may have worked!”

On Monday, June 25 at 2pm Clare is going to give an introductory session on her proposed course in Bishop Lloyd’s Palace as part of the Chester Heritage Festival. If you can’t make that date, she’d still like to hear from you if you are at all interested.

To book a place (admission £2), you can either phone or text Clare on 07866 552752 or email clare@claredudman.com.